Jive Time Records

Based in Detroit, the Politicians' members were the equivalent to Motown's Funk Brothers, but for the Hot Wax and Invictus labels. Though the Politicians recorded only one album, 1972's The Politicians Featuring McKinley Jackson, it contained enough heat for three. Led by trombonist/composer/producer/arranger Jackson, the group created a treasure trove of brash and soulful funk here. On the evidence of The Politicians..., Jackson deserves to be much better known and this record is DJ gold. Read critic Buckley Mayfield's review of it on our blog. Link in comments.

Harumi Ando is part of that rarefied club of one-and-done artists: musicians who released one great LP and then peaced out for various reasons. What makes Harumi’s case even more interesting is that he seems to have vanished from everyone’s radar in the decades following the release of his 1968 self-titled debut album.

Mystery pervades Harumi and his psych-pop oddity. How did an unproven Japanese solo musician hook up with accomplished—and uncredited—New York players in a studio helmed by Tom Wilson, producer of classics by the Velvet Underground and others? Why did Verve allow him to cut a double LP whose second disc consists of sidelong excursions with zero commercial potential? Could the reason really be down to Verve’s execs being high on hallucinogens and the notion that “this is what the kids want”?

On our blog, critic Buckley Mayfield dives deep into this enigmatic record. Link in comments.

Marvin Gaye’s only film score is one of the zeniths of the short-lived blaxploitation genre. Beyond that major feat, Trouble Man (1972) stands as one of Gaye’s greatest albums, as well as the first one he totally wrote and produced. The odd thing about Trouble Man is that Gaye—one of soul music’s most emotive and powerful vocalists—seldom sings on it. No, Marvin was more interested in playing the Moog synthesizer that fellow Motown superstar Stevie Wonder had recently gifted him. The result is a stunning anomaly in Gaye’s phenomenal catalog. Read critic Buckley Mayfield's review of his favorite Marvin Gaye LP on our blog. Link in comments.

Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance came into being in 1980 after a fortuitous meeting in NYC's Washington Square Park between Brian Eno and a busking zither player named Laraaji. Eno's acumen and production skills facilitated one of the most peace-inducing recordings of New Age-scented ambient music to which the world has ever had its chakras aligned. Critic Buckley Mayfield stepped down off his cloud of bliss to review Laraaji's breakthrough LP on our blog. Link in comments.